King's Leap

King’s Leap began with a pocket of artists who met exploring the possibilities of Tumblr’s digital moodboard-making when it was the center of internet youth culture in the 2010s. The art here experiments with that universe's aesthetic and DIY ethos, as well as anime, science fiction, and the infinitely repeating patterns of techno and trance music, which were cultish topics on Tumblr feeds at the time.

These influences lead to art that explores what it means to be an artist on a planet consumed by search, social media, and streaming. Questions about the power dynamics of the artist-dealer-collector relationship are challenged: who’s really got the power, the artist or the collector?

Shows at King’s Leap can be challenging to wrap your head around, and perhaps that is entirely the point. The art gets more interesting the deeper you get into it. Much like the free-wheeling days of Tumblr, they are nostalgic for.

Alec Petty started King’s Leap in Bushwick in 2017, at 23 years old. He moved the gallery to Henry Street in 2021. Now, it takes up two storefronts and a basement space along what’s become known as the Henry Street stretch.

The gallery is named after a medieval chess move. One that changed the rules of the game. For those familiar with the board, it’s a precursor to castling. And its the only time in chess when the King and Rook can reverse roles and move simultaneously.

Petty saw the soul in this strategy, an opportunity to create an experimental space where artists can change the rules of the game to something where a rook becomes a king, so to speak. And where the smallest moves can make the biggest impact, and artists can rewrite the outcomes.